Current U.S.Minorities Expected to Be the Majority by Middle of Century

Preliminary U.S. Census estimates are showing that minority infants now outnumber white babies in America, indicating that the current ethnic minorities will become the majority by mid-century.

According to the Census Bureau’s October 2009 annual survey, just under half of all children under the age of 3 were non-white Hispanics, which is a significant drop from 1990, when more than 60 percent of children under 3 were white.

Also, 80 percent of seniors in the U.S. are white, as well as 73 percent of those between the ages of 45 and 64.

Laura Speer, coordinator of the Kids Count project for the Baltimore-based Annie E. Casey Foundation told the Associated Press, “We’re moving toward an acknowledgment that we’re living in a different world than the 1950s, where married or two-parent heterosexual couples are now no longer the norm for a lot of kids, especially kids of color.”

“It’s clear the younger generation is very demographically different from the elderly, something to keep in mind as politics plays out on how programs for the elderly get supported,” she said. “It’s critical that children are able to grow to compete internationally and keep state economies rolling.”